One of the big men who will be giving Sweed a run for his money is second-year receiver Dallas Baker. 2008 could be a boom-or-bust year for the 6-3 Baker, an ex-Florida Gator, and he shouldnâ€™t be ignored in the position battle. The Steelers drafted Baker in the seventh round last year (No. 227 overall), but he didnâ€™t make the 53-man roster as a rookie; rather, he turned heads by regularly making plays on the practice squad.

Baker hasnâ€™t missed any practice or conditioning session this offseason. Heâ€™s also added five pounds of muscle to his body, and he spent his own time studying film with the Steelersâ€™ receivers coach. Both Tomlin and Roethlisberger have praised the giant steps Baker is making. But he still has a long way to go; after all making plays in practice is a lot different than making plays in the game. And Bakerâ€™s lack of high-end speed and quickness will put him at a disadvantage to his faster teammates.

As big as Sweed and Baker are, they wonâ€™t even be the tallest receivers at training camp. A pair of 6-6 giants will also be trying to turn heads. Matt Trannon will fight for a spot on Pittsburgh's roster after spending 2007 on various practice squads. The former Michigan State Spartan will have to show he can take a hit if wants to make the team. Meanwhile, Micah Rucker -- who was first-team all-Ohio Valley at Eastern Illinois last season -- signed with the Steelers as a rookie free agent, and he brings 4.4 speed.

The bottom line is that 11 receivers are entering camp for the Steelers, who could choose to keep up to six on their roster. Three spots are already reserved for established veterans Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington (who made the team as an undrafted rookie in 2005). Many would assume Sweed would nab a fourth spot. That leaves the three other big guys battling for the final two positions with four other receivers. That could all change if Pittsburgh decides to keep three tight ends (speaking of giants, four of the five TEs going to camp are 6-5 or taller). But even if the high hopes are dashed for the rest of these tall targets, you canâ€™t say the Steelers didnâ€™t try to reach for the stars.

I still don't see the need for nate. Even though he's a veteran, he hasn't been a factor in any game i've seen him in yet. He's mediocre at best! Sweed can come in and be at least that in his first year i'm sure. Let nate go and keep baker, if he's that impressive, as your 4th receiver and let the giants fight for the remaining spots. Nate is just not good enough to play in our scheme.

smith going 5 wide on wrs will take pressure off the line and mendenhall is a good blocker and also pass catcher which also takes pressure off ben.

our oline will look better this year with more wr threats needing double coverage.

teams cannot discount real receiving threats and have to account for them. If sweed is a superstar in the making we go from TWO real wr threats in ward and holmes to THREE.. and that is huge.

and another superstar RB that is a better pass catcher than fast willie parker is a danger all of his own which truly the steelers have not had in ten years or more....mendenhall is sort of a ladanian tomlinson or brian westbrook threat. he can do it all well.

mendenhall can split out like a wide receiver effectively. willie parker cant.

and matt spaeth will be in his second year and he will know the system better....block better....know routes better.....

all this means an offense that is quite possibly TWICE as dangerous as last year.

and big ben is in his second year in the new ARIENS offense so he will be MUCH more comfortable finding targets etc. ....knowing everyones assignments.....leading the offense .....

this year our offense will probably be the leading scoring offense in the entire nfl.

Hi5Steeler wrote:smith going 5 wide on wrs will take pressure off the line and mendenhall is a good blocker and also pass catcher which also takes pressure off ben.

our oline will look better this year with more wr threats needing double coverage.

teams cannot discount real receiving threats and have to account for them. If sweed is a superstar in the making we go from TWO real wr threats in ward and holmes to THREE.. and that is huge.

and another superstar RB that is a better pass catcher than fast willie parker is a danger all of his own which truly the steelers have not had in ten years or more....mendenhall is sort of a ladanian tomlinson or brian westbrook threat. he can do it all well.

mendenhall can split out like a wide receiver effectively. willie parker cant.

and matt spaeth will be in his second year and he will know the system better....block better....know routes better.....

all this means an offense that is quite possibly TWICE as dangerous as last year.

and big ben is in his second year in the new ARIENS offense so he will be MUCH more comfortable finding targets etc. ....knowing everyones assignments.....leading the offense .....

this year our offense will probably be the leading scoring offense in the entire nfl.

Think of next year when we finally cut nates lame ass..... We can go five wide with Santonio, Sweed, Ward, Rucker, and Baker..... how the hell do you cover that? Or for fun we could just put all of our huge ass wide recievers out there with our huge ass TE's... i just dont see how its possible.

Im callin it, next year Rucker and Baker are both on the team (not PS) and will get significant time... hell maybe they will both make it this year, but thats a long shot..

Still_Poppin wrote:Think of next year when we finally cut nates lame ass..... We can go five wide with Santonio, Sweed, Ward, Rucker, and Baker..... how the hell do you cover that? Or for fun we could just put all of our huge ass wide recievers out there with our huge ass TE's... i just dont see how its possible.

Im callin it, next year Rucker and Baker are both on the team (not PS) and will get significant time... hell maybe they will both make it this year, but thats a long shot..

wow... way to go with the name calling KC. I came here to talk about Steelers football, but I guess were gonna talk trash. Wait a second and I can get my little brother on here, Im sure you two have the same maturity level.

wow... way to go with the name calling KC. I came here to talk about Steelers football, but I guess were gonna talk trash. Wait a second and I can get my little brother on here, Im sure you two have the same maturity level.

Still_Poppin wrote:wow... way to go with the name calling KC. I came here to talk about Steelers football, but I guess were gonna talk trash. Wait a second and I can get my little brother on here, Im sure you two have the same maturity level.

When I'm dealing with an immature dumbfuck, like yourself, I treat that person like an immature dumbfuck.

Plain and simple.

Here's a fact for you: Nate Washington's job is safe and he'll most likely start the season as the 3rd WR and will hold that job until Limas Sweed is ready. Washington isn't going anywhere this year. GUARANTEED. Also, with the problems rookies often have adjusting to the NFL, don't be surprised if you see a whole lot of #85 this season. Think back to Burress' first year. He was injured and even when he wasn't injured, HE WAS TERRIBLE. Again, Washington's job is safe in Pittsburgh, this season.

Why?

Because he's been productive and that's why his job is safe. Dumbfucks like yourself can protest and cry like a little bitch, but that isn't changing reality. Most likely next year Washington will be gone, solely because he will have become to expensive, but that isn't written in stone. Injuries happen. You may have a hard-on for Micah Rucker and who knows, that kid may end up being a player, but right now, Rucker hasn't accomplished anything at the next level. Washington has and I would be SHOCKED to see Rucker have anywhere near the success Washington has had after his first three years.

Seems like people around here make such claims every year that some undrafted FA rookie or other is going to be a star and it rarely (FWP exception noted) ever happens. I seem to remember the same thing being said about Baker last year. KC is right. Nate will start this season as #3 WR unless he gets injured, Sweed will be #4. Rucker and Baker may compete for the #5 spot with Reid, but that is about all I expect to see out of either. If I were a betting man, I'd say Baker has a little bit of a better chance to make the squad than Rucker because of his PS experience last year.

I like to see the competitiion in the pre-season and I think it will be an interesting battle to see who displaces who, but I will be very surprised to see one or both of them (Rucker/Baker) actually make the 53-man roster come the regular season.

Kill Cowher wrote: Here's a fact for you: Nate Washington's job is safe and he'll most likely start the season as the 3rd WR and will hold that job until Limas Sweed is ready. Washington isn't going anywhere this year. GUARANTEED.

Love or Hate KC, you got to respect that he puts his opinion out there. If he is wrong, it will be here in black and white for his detractors to throw back in his face repeatedly. (And many are just waiting for that chance.) He posts his opinions knowing this. The guy has balls.

Kill Cowher wrote: Here's a fact for you: Nate Washington's job is safe and he'll most likely start the season as the 3rd WR and will hold that job until Limas Sweed is ready. Washington isn't going anywhere this year. GUARANTEED.

Love or Hate KC, you got to respect that he puts his opinion out there. If he is wrong, it will be here in black and white for his detractors to throw back in his face repeatedly. (And many are just waiting for that chance.) He posts his opinions knowing this. The guy has balls.

Thanks steelhammer, but I really don't think saying that Washington's job is safe this year is any kind of crazy or risky statement. With Ward being older and somewhat injury prone and with Sweed being a rookie, the Steelers aren't about to move Washington in favor of another guy that hasn't been through any real NFL games (meaning Rucker or Baker.) Willie Reid has had a tiny amount of playing time as a receiver and hasn't done badly, but Washington's numbers (coupled with his experience) shit all over Reid's.

The funniest part of it all, is that on all the sites I post on, the most respected and knowledgable posters realize that Washington is a pretty good player with some upside. A guy that has certainly been productive when given the opportunity. Sure, some believe that we can do better at that position down the road, but no one in their right mind believes that Washington will be sent packing this year.

As I said earlier, Washington was only active for a game or two his rookie season. Since his second year, when he began to actually see some playing time, through last season, he has AS MANY TD catches as Santonio Holmes. That ain't too bad. I'm not saying that Washington is anywhere near as good as Holmes, BECAUSE HE ISN'T, but the FACT remains that this undrafted free agent has been pretty productive and I'm absolutely sure that the Steelers realize that.

Before we start labeling these guys as the best WR corp ever, I think we should all take a long look at the Jacksonville WR group from the past few years. The point is that having a bunch of really tall guys doesn't necessarily make them great. You need to have some smaller, quicker guys, to compliment the size.

That said, I'll agree that the Jaguars haven't had anyone like Hines or Santonio to provide that compliment, I just think it's something everyone should be aware before we start recruiting 6'10" centers from the North Carolina Tar Heel Heels to play WR for us.

Dont forget DWAYNE BOWE. With a good qb he could have been rookie of the year last year. WR on the chiefs.

this could be limas sweed except we have so much talent at wr now on steelers.

odds are itll take two years to transition to nfl though so kc is likely correct about nate staying this year. unless sweed and either baker or the other giant wr both have GIGANTIC camps .....that is the only way nate is gone.

sweed and one other wr showing stellar grasp of playbook in camp coming up.

Before KC got all riled up and started pissing all over everything yet again, he either conveniently missed or completely ignored Still_Poopin's original point:

Still_Poppin wrote:Think of next year when we finally cut nates lame ass.....

Granted, "loosing a UFA that signs a lucrative deal somewhere else" is not the same as "cutting," but either way Nate is most likely gone in '09.

Though he's not a "superstar" and has let us down at some key moments, I certainly wouldn't call him a "lame ass" either. In his third year, he did show some real improvement, and I think he certainly vindicated himself as a serviceable #3. I also think he did enough to prove himself worthy of the same spot this year, but with all of the fresh meat coming to camp, who really knows right now? That's the thing about rookies, from first rounders all the way down to UDFA's, and any other unprovens - they haven't proven anything yet, and remain a big unknown until they get that chance.

What I find puzzling is how KC has the constant need to plead Nate's case for him, to the point that he most often resorts to second-grade name calling and sexually disparaging epithet, as if that makes him somehow smarter than you in pre-determining Washington's status on the team at any given point. And the fact that he so quickly sinks to such puerile behavior while somehow missing the obvious point that the post never impugned Nate's spot on the team for '08 is striking...

So, KC, tell us: why is Nate's stink all over you all of the time? When people talk of "fat-and-slow Hampton" or "22 rating Ben" or "fallin' down Willie" or "Whines Ward" or "missed again Troy" or any other bad tendencies that might be displayed on occasion by otherwise stellar Steeler players, we barely hear crickets out of you. But when somebody points out how disgruntled they are when Nate has at times fallen short, you jump all over them?

Does anybody else find that a bit odd?

I for one will root rabidly for Nate to succeed this year beyond any of our expectations, then will wish him the best when next year's free agency takes him away.

I just wonder whose baby KC will dream of having next year once he's gone.